One week had passed after the day when Albatross had healed me from the injuries I had gotten. During this one week, I have been taking trains to chase Strawberry and Peppermint, who were three days ahead of me. Because I pretty much used the train of same schedule, chasing her was difficult. The only way I could catch up to her was to keep taking the immediate next train in every station, hoping that the two girls would stop to look around or rest from time to time. I even took any available night train so I could keep chasing her even while asleep. However, I was not even sure if I got closer or even passed her without knowing. Albatross couldn't use his scanner while in necklace form, so I had to wait until he could transform again.

This day, while standing around at a station waiting for the next train to come, suddenly there was an announcement that the next train would be delayed because the train two schedules ahead had been obstructed by a herd of sheeps for one hour.

"What a waste of time," I said.

"Can't be helped," Albatross said.

"I'm not sure whether I should hope they are in that blocked train or not," I said.

"I see what you mean," Albatross said. "If they're in that train, at least you're not falling behind again. But if they're not and already ahead, they have better chance to finish the challenge."

"Right," I said.

"I can transform again if you want me to," he said.

"Better save it for later," I said.

"Okay," he said. "By the way, bro..."

"What is it?" I asked.

"We better not talk anymore for now. You look like a weirdo doing that," he said. I then looked around and noticed that some people are looking at me with confused face. I felt pretty embarassed, so I walked some distance from them.

Three days later, while waiting at another station, I heard an announcement that all train schedules on that day had to be cancelled because the railroad was blocked by a big fallen tree.

"Albatross, I guess it's time," I said.

"Alright," he said. I then walked to an area behind the station where there were no other people around. In there, I threw the necklace up and it transformed into Albatross. He then sucked me into cockpit and flew along the railway.

"While you're here, can you use your gravity field to move the fallen tree out of the way?" I asked.

"Sure, no problem," he replied. Soon, we saw the fallen big tree which was blocking the railroad. There was a train in front of it, unable to proceed because of the fallen tree. Albatross then flew closer to the fallen tree and slowly lifted it using his gravity field. He easily moved the tree to an open field. After the tree was safely put down, he flew away quickly, leaving some people below staring in confusion.

"Can you scan for Strawberry?" I asked.

"Sure. Wait a minute," he replied. He then stopped and hovered above a jungle. "That's pretty strange. According to my scanner, Strawberry and Peppermint are right below..."

Before Albatross could finish his sentence, he suddenly deformed again. Once again, I fell down screaming. I fell through something like a sheet of cloth, ripping it open, and then I landed on something hard. I didn't get any injuries because the cloth I had fallen through had miraculously absorbed my fall, but hitting the hard surface was still pretty painful. Soon after, the necklace fell right on my chest.

"Blackberry?" suddenly I heard a very familiar voice.

"Why are you here?" another very familiar voice asked. I opened my eyes and saw that they were indeed Strawberry and Peppermint.

"Oh, hi, Strawberry, Peppermint," I said with a little laugh, still trying to endure the pain from falling.

"I guess so..." I said, trying to get up into sitting position. "Hey, if you keep repeating this, you'll eventually kill me for real."

"Sorry..." Albatross replied, sounding ashamed.

"Umm, who are you talking to?" Peppermint asked. "Did you hit your head?"

"Well, I guess I have a lot to explain," I said. "By the way, where am I?"

"We're riding an elephant to get through the jungle because the railroad was blocked by a fallen tree," Strawberry said.

"I see," I said, then I told the two girls everything.

"So before this you already fell once and got injured? Seriously, if I were you I wouldn't ride him again. Do you have any fear in you?" Peppermint said.

"Of course I was afraid," I said. "But my friends are worth more than myself and I will take any risk to keep them safe."

"I appreciate that berry much, Blackberry," Strawberry said. "But none of us want any of our friends to risk themselves so much. There is always be a way to overcome any obstacle without risking yourself berry greatly."

"I'm not so sure about that," I said.

We all then continued the trip with the elephant ride. The jungle was so huge that it took many days. Every day, We continued the trip from the morning until evening and we stayed overnight at small villages we came across. I saw no sight of Purple Pie Man and Sour Grapes during the trip through the jungle, but I felt that I still needed to be careful.

"We've made it! We're out of the jungle!" Peppermint said in excitement when we were indeed finally out of the jungle.

The elephant then stopped near a coastline and sat down for us to jump off. Strawberry and Peppermint jumped off to the right while I jumped off to the left. After that, the elephant stood up and walked away.

"I don't know. Blackberry! Are you all right?" Strawberry asked, looking at me, who was looking away from her.

"Well, not too good," I said, turning around and showing my broken glasses I held in my hands.

"What happened?" Strawberry asked.

"My glasses fell off when I jumped, and I carelessly stepped on it," I said.

"What a bummer," Peppermint said. "Can you still see now?"

"Of course I still can. But now I'm pretty much blind for anything further than 5 meters away," I said. "Never mind that. Let's move on."

"Strawberry Shortcake? Is that you?" Suddenly we heard a familiar voice.

"I know that voice," Strawberry said, looking back. "Tea Blossom!"

I then saw a blurry figure running to Strawberry. I finally could recognize her as Tea Blossom when she got close and hugged Strawberry. We all then walked together while Strawberry explained everything to Tea Blossom.

"So you see, now we need to find a ship to take us the rest of the way back," Strawberry said.

"If we can get home in three weeks, we can cure Almond without that rotten Pie Man getting our berry fields," Peppermint said.

"I see. I might be able to find something for you too," she said. "Let's go to my house first. It's almost lunch time."

All of us then went to Tea Blossom's house and had lunch there. After we were done Tea Blossom left the house saying that she knew someone who could help me, so the three of us remained inside the house for a few minutes until she came back bringing a girl in red clothes.

"Yeah, let's go. We must get back as soon as we can!" Peppermint said.

"We'll be back soon, Blackberry and Mint Tea," Strawberry said, and the three of them left the place. Mint Tea then put something that seemed like a toolbox on the table in Tea Blossom's living room and started working on something.

"How did this happen anyway?" she asked while still working.

"They fell off when I jumped off an elephant ride, and my foot landed on them," I replied.

"How careless of you," she said, examining the remains of my glasses. "Minus 5? Not only your glasses, your eyes are also horribly broken!"

"I don't even know how they became like this," I said.

"You're strange," she said. "And so are your glasses. They don't seem like any ordinary glasses..."

"Well..." I said.

"Tell me. Are you an inventor?" she asked.

"Uhh, yes.." I said.

"Figures. The frame has tiny cables inside. What do they do?" she asked.

"They help me to see in the dark. Blind person can also use it to see," I replied.

"That's... quite cool," she said.

"But you can't use it for too long or you'll have very bad headache," I said.

"How long did it take you to make them?" she asked.

"One hour," I replied. "But without my tools, I can't do anything here."

"Let's see..." I said, taking the new glasses from her hand. I then wore them and my vision became clear again. I then looked at myself on a nearby mirror. The replacement glasses she had made for me looked just like my original glasses. "This is great! Thank you!"

"Really?" she asked.

"Definitely! It was surprising that you can do this," I said.

"Surprising?" she asked, getting upset.

"Oh, umm... I mean..." I said. Getting timid because I didn't expect my last line to upset her.

"Yeah, that figures. We only met once before and I acted like a complete brat back then," she said.

"No, you didn't!" I said. "You were just being cautious. Me and Peppermint were complete strangers back then, so it was just fine!"

"Really?" she asked.

"Of course!" I said. Immediately after, the girls who had left returned.

"Nobody can match her when it comes to handcrafting," Tea Blossom said. "She's a master of it."

"Stop it, Tea Blossom! That's embarrassing!" Mint Tea shouted with her cheeks completely red, the rest of us just laughed.

When Mint Tea went home, I went with her because I also wanted to walk around the area. She offered to give me a tour around the place, and I gladly accepted. With her, I saw a lot of places such as a bamboo forest, a beautiful riverside, and The Great Wall of Chocolate itself. Later, we found a small pier at the coastline and there was a boat docking there.

"Maybe that boat is the one I'll be using tomorrow?" I said.

"Well, I have no idea. Why don't you ask the captain if you want to make sure?" she said.

"Yeah, let's go there," I said.

Both of us then walked to the boat to make sure if it was the boat I would use at the next day. When we arrived there, there was nobody on the boat, but we got on board anyway.

"And it seems you knew that I saw through your thin disguise," I said. I tried to get free, but I naturally couldn't match the strength of an adult.

"Hey, what are you doing to Blackberry?!" Mint Tea said. Suddenly, Sour Grapes came from behind her and grabbed her arms. "What are you doing?! Let me go!"

"Nice work, Sour Grapes," Pie Man said.

"Now what are we going to do? We can't let them go, but if we don't their friends will get worried and suspect us," Sour Grapes said.

"Hmm..." Pie Man said, thinking. "Hey, girl. There must be a telephone in the place this boy's friends are staying, right?"

"If yes, so what?" Mint Tea replied.

"My sister there has a cellphone. Call them and tell them that this boy is going to stay at your house tonight and meet them at this boat tomorrow," Pie Man said.

"And why should I do that?" Mint Tea said.

"Because you don't want me to pour this poison on him," Pie Man said, holding a green vial with his left hand while holding my arms with his right hand. Mint Tea did as Pie Man had told her because of the threat.

"Hmph! There you go!" Mint Tea said after her call had ended. Pie Man then opened the green vial and drank all the content.

"Apple syrup. Tasty!" he said, followed by a laugh. Mint Tea was very angry because she had been deceived, but Sour Grapes had already grabbed her arms.

And so, history repeated itself for me. I got locked up inside the lower deck of a boat with my hands tied behind my back. Though this time my legs were tied as well and my mouth was gagged. I could only sat on the floor quietly, leaning to the wall, and the same applied to Mint Tea. She tried struggling to get free, but it was of no use.

"In trouble again," Albatross said telepathically.

"Yeah, can you do something?" I said in my mind.

"Afraid not," he replied. "I can't do anything in necklace form, and if I transform right now you'll be crushed by my spaceship body along with this boat."

"So I guess we have no choice other than wait," I said in my mind.

Later, nightfall came and I felt really hungry and tired. I believed the same applied to Mint Tea, but there was nothing we could do. Suddenly, we heard someone coming. The place was dark so we couldn't see clearly, but soon we could recognize that it was Sour Grapes bringing a lit lantern and some other things. She then hanged the lantern near the deck ceiling and kneeled in front of us. She then removed our gag.

"I brought some food for you both," she said.

"And you expect us to eat with our hands tied?" Mint Tea said.

"Of course not. I will help you," Sour Grapes said. She then patiently fed us until we were done with the food.

"Because I have promised him that I would help him forever, no matter what. I'm sorry," Sour Grapes said. She then gagged our mouth again and then she put an old mattress with two old pillows on the floor right in front of us. "Lie down here and sleep. Both of you."

We did as told by her, and then she put a blanket over us.

"I know this is not comfortable, but hang in there," she said. Both of us nodded, and we could see her smiling warmly before leaving the place. Having to sleep with our hands and legs tied and mouth gagged was of course not comfortable, but much better than without the mattress, pillows, and warm blanket. Both of us fell asleep soon enough.

I had no idea what Pie Man had told Strawberry and Peppermint in the following morning, but we could feel the boat departing, which meant Strawberry and Peppermint were upstairs on the boat and they were somehow convinced not to look for me. Mint Tea struggled hard and tried to scream, but all she did were in vain. The two of us spent the rest of the day doing nothing at all other than sitting idly, being unable to move. Nobody came downstairs at all. I was really bored and my body felt really sore, and I knew the same could apply to Mint Tea. I really wondered how Pie Man managed to prevent Strawberry and Peppermint from looking down here, but bed time came again so we just went to sleep.

In the following morning, not long after the two of us woke up, we heard someone rushing downstairs. It was apparently Strawberry and Peppermint. They looked really horrified.

"That no good Pie Man! How could he have done this to you?" Peppermint said.

"I'm berry sorry for not knowing this earlier," Strawberry said as she released me.

"I'm sorry too! I should have not trusted him!" Peppermint said as she released Mint Tea.

"What took you so long?! Are you two dumb or what?!" Mint Tea said, looking very upset.

"Calm down, Mint Tea," I said.

"How can I be so calm when...!" Mint Tea said before someone interrupted. It was Pie Man himself, no longer in disguise.

"Alright, now that you have had your reunion, get out of my boat," Pie Man said.

Soon, the four of us were left stranded on a beach which seemed far from Strawberryland. According to Strawberry, we were already at the same land with Strawberryland, but we were far south. To make matters worse, there was only one week left.

"Now, what should we do?" I asked.

"Now we're really not going to make it," Peppermint said.

"Don't give up yet, Peppermint. We will overcome this obstacle," Strawberry said.

"How? We're still far from Strawberryland, and we have no vehicle!" Peppermint said.

After saying it, she broke down crying. I could understand her. That day had been supposed to be just another ordinary day for her, but all of a sudden she had been kidnapped and had been brought far away from her home with no idea how and when she would be able to get back. I then looked at my necklace.

"Albatross..." I said.

"Yeah, I know," he replied. I then threw my necklace upwards and it morphed into Albatross. Mint Tea seemed very surprised.

"Mint Tea, this is Albatross, my spaceship. He will take you home in a flash," I said.

"Spaceship? Did you...?" Mint Tea said before I interrupted.

"He can't fly for long, so you should go now. Save any questions for later, okay?" I said. She then smiled and nodded, and Albatross immediately took her and flew away.

"Uhh... Blackberry. Do you know about what you have done?" Peppermint asked.

"She wants to go home, so I helped her with Albatross," I said. "What's wrong with that?"

"Did you realize that you have just thrown away our chance to get back home in time?" she asked.

"Aren't we supposed not to use jet planes for this challenge?" I asked back.

"Pie Man cheated by doing this to us! That rule doesn't matter anymore!" she said.

"Peppermint, it's true that Pie Man cheated on us, but that doesn't mean we can cheat as well!" Strawberry said.

"So how are we going to make it now?! We're in the middle of nowhere!" Peppermint said.

"Not really, I think," I said, which confused Peppermint. "Don't you think this beach looks familiar?"

"We're near Tangerina Torta's place," I said, and the two girls seemed to be delighted. "Let's go."

We then walked into the forest, and not long after that we found Tangerina Torta's house. Just as we arrived, she greeted us from the balcony of her tree house. All of us then sat together inside her house, and Strawberry told her everything including our need for a vehicle to get us home in time. Fortunately, Tangerina had a scooter available. But it could only fit two persons so I had to stay. I needed much treatment anyway, because I had spent the previous day without any food and water.

"Be careful on the way," I said as the two girls were about to go.

"We will!" Strawberry said.

"Pie Man thinks we're going to fail for sure, so I guess he won't get in your way now," I said.

"That's good to hear and I really hope you're right," Peppermint said.

"Thank you for your help, Blackberry! I hope you will catch up soon!" Strawberry said.

"I will. Once Albatross returns I will go straight to Strawberryland and wait for you there," I said, and the two girls left the place.

four days later, after lunch time, Albatross came flying near Tangerina's house and soon reverted back into a necklace. I picked the necklace up and put it on.

"What took you so long?" I asked. "I actually expected you to come three days ago."

"Sorry," he replied. "She needed some treatment after spending a full day without food and water so I used my soul power to heal her."

"I see," I said.

One day later, Albatross was ready to transform again. After saying goodbye to Tangerina, we left her place and flew straight to the clubhouse Strawberryland. When I arrived, Blueberry and Orange were there sitting in the main room. They looked surprised when I entered the building.

"Blackberry Bun!" Orange said. "Where have you been?"

"You absolutely made us confused with your disappearance," Blueberry said.

"Yeah, sorry. I was in a hurry," I said, then I told them everything.

"Really? That no good Pie Man!" Orange said.

"Let's hope Strawberry will make it in time," I said. "Eh, not hope. Believe is the better word."

"That's right. Absolutely!" Blueberry said.

Two days later, I was waiting for Strawberry at the gazebo used for the finish line. Angel, Ginger, and Orange were also with me, as well as Almond's body which was put on the gazebo bench. Not long later, the wagon we all knew and not love came. Both Pie Man and Sour Grapes came off from the wagon and approached us. As I had expected, they were surprised seeing me.

"Give me the antidote," I said. "Or rather... the vial where you contain his soul."

"So you knew..." he said. "Why should I?"

"Either Strawberry makes it in time or not, you'll give me that vial anyway," I said.

"He's right," Sour Grapes said. "Don't make him suffer for any longer!"

"Alright, alright," Pie Man said, and then he took a purple vial from his pocket and gave it to me. "Open this under his nose and let him inhale it."

I then immediately went to the gazebo bench where Almond was sleeping. I could notice Strawberry and Peppermint coming right after I had received the vial, but I didn't care much because I just wanted to return Almond's soul to his body. I took his necklace from my neck and put it on him, and then I did as Pie Man had told me. Purple smoke came out from the vial and Almond inhaled it. Just one second later, he opened his eyes and got up to sitting position.

"Hey, brother," he said, then without saying anything I hugged him tight. "Hey, what are you doing?"

"Welcome back, brother," I said, leaking tears.

"Oh..." he said, seeming to understand. "But you need to let me go."

"Let me do this, just for a little longer," I said, still hugging him tight.

"I need to settle things with that Pie Man," he said. I then released my hug.

"Settle things?" I asked.

"Come with me," he said, standing up and walking to Pie Man. I followed him and when I came close I noticed both Pie Man and Sour Grapes being upset and my other friends cheering. It was obvious that Strawberry had won the challenge.

"Hey, Pie Man," Almond said.

"You won! Are you happy now?" Pie Man said, still upset.

"Not in your life," Almond said, coming closer to Pie Man. "Do you know how it felt for me?"

"What do you mean?" Pie Man asked back.

"I repeat! Do you have any idea, about how it felt for me being trapped inside that vial?!" Almond said. He seemed very angry.

"Huh? But..." Pie Man said before Almond interrupted.

"Imagine yourself, being hanged, unable to move, bound by chains from all directions, inside nothing but emptiness!" Almond shouted. "That's how I felt! For eighty! Straight! Days!"

"But... That's impossible!" Pie Man said in disbelief. "Any soul trapped by the potion should be in deep sleep, and when it returns to the body it shouldn't even remember anything!"

"Let's just say that my soul is a bit... special," Almond said, raising his left hand to about the same height as his shoulder. He then used the Flame Stone power to set his left hand on fire. That of course surprised both Pie Man and Sour Grapes, and probably my other friends as well because none of them had ever seen Almond doing such thing.

"W-what are you...?!" Pie Man said, taking a few steps back.

"You have ten seconds..." Almond said, increasing the size of the fire on his hand and starting to count down from ten. Both Pie Man and Sour Grapes didn't need explanation at all. They both ran to their carriage and rushed it to escape. After Almond's countdown reached zero, he was about to throw his necklace. However, I hugged him from behind.

Oh goodness, you are a fantastic writer. You did have a splattering of grammatical errors in the English language, all coming down to using or not using plural form for words a few times.* This has always been your overall most common error, and is not noticeable at a glance. My other nitpick is that there was no mention of the kid who owns the elephant existing, so Strawberry's thanking him is a bit confusing.

As far as the story goes, I love it.

Doesn't Almond have memories of the future? Killing Pie Man would destroy that future.

* :lol: This sentence was an unintentionally perfect example of what I was talking about. I should have said the word "forms" instead of "form".